Vol. 9, Issue 2, Part F (2025)

The present investigation entitled “Effect of Different Plant Spacing and Pinching on Flowering & Yield quality of African Marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) was conducted at Main Experiment Station, Faculty of Agriculture Science & Technology, Integral University, Lucknow (U.P.) in winter season, during the year 2019-20. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomized Block Design with three replications comprising nine treatment combinations of three plant spacing (50x40cm, 50x50cm, 50x60cm) three pinching levels (no pinching, pinching at 20 DAT, pinching at 30 DAT). The result concluded that the important growth characters were significantly influenced by different plant spacing and pinching treatments tried under this investigation. Plant height was found to be significantly more under the spacing of 50x50 cm and pinching at 30 DAT. The pinching treatments had significant effect on flower diameter, pedicel length, days taken for 50% flowering and vase life of cut flowers. In India flowers are sold in the market as loose or after making garlands flowers are traditionally used are offering in churches and temples and also used in ceremonies, festivals, beautification and landscaping. Besides, pinching is also an important factor for plant growth and flower production in marigold. Pinching is an important cultural operation, which delays flowering and enhances the flower yield.